Air humidifier



H. J. AGERLEY Nov. 4, 1969 AIR HUMIDIFIER Filed May 10.V 1967 TOR #4mmJjy BY INVE United States Patent AIR HUMIDIFIER Harald I. Agerley,Lyngby, Denmark, assignor, by mesne assignments, to AktiebolagetElectrolux, Stockholm, Sweden, a corporation of Sweden Filed May 10,1967, Ser. No. 637,417 Claims priority application Denmark, May 11,1966, 2,414/ 66 Int. Cl. B01d 1/00 U-S. Cl. 261-24 4 Claims p ABSTRACToF THE DISCLOSURE The invention relates to an air humidifier comprisinga suspended porous band, a water container, means to trans# fer waterfrom the water container to the porous band, a

ventilator producing a stream of air to pick up moisture from the porousband, and a housing with an inlet aperture and an outlet aperture. Anair humidifier of this type may profitably comprise an endless porousband, preferably consisting of foam plastic with open cells, said bandbeing moved by two rollers, one of which being driven by a motor bymeans of a suitable transmission and being arranged in such a mannerthat its lower portion is sub' merged in a water container whereby itbecomes moist. Instead of such an endless band it is possible to use afixedly suspended band that is maintained constantly moist by means of apump driven by a motor.

In connection with air humidifiers of the type indicated it is usual toarrange a so-called axial ventilator opposite the middle of the band andcause said ventilator to blow the stream of air through the band.However, this arrangement is quite voluminous and therefore oftenentails that it is not possible in practice to install the airhumidifier in the most suitable location in the room in which it is tobe used.

The object of the invention is to devise an air humidifier of the typeindicated which may be constructed with a fiat housing so that it forinstance may be installed in front of a radiator whereby the mostadvantageous combination of heating and moistening of the air isobtained.

According to the invention this is obtained by arranging the ventilatorabove the band. The dimension of the housing in a direction at rightangles to the vertical sections of the band will hereby substantially bedetermined by the size of the ventilator or possibly the water containerarranged below said band, and the housing may therefore be constructedwith a relatively small dimension in this direction.

The inlet aperture may, according to the invention, be arranged at theback of the housing. This is particularly advantageous when the airhumidifier is located in front of a radiator as air that has beensomewhat heated will be sucked into the housing, said air having acapacity to pick up a relatively large amount of water.

The outlet aperture may, according to the invention, be arranged at theback of the housing. The moistened air expelled from the housing willtherefore be mixed with warm air so that the danger of damp-spots on thewalls or moisture damages to the furniture is avoided.

The arrangement of the air humidifier in front of a Patented Nov. 4,1969 ice radiator furthermore prevents unpleasant draft-like conditionswhich may occur in connection with conventional air humidifiers as theair is cooled when it is moistened and because the outlet aperturenormally is arranged at the front of the housing so that the moistenedair is expelled into the room.

The ventilator may, according to the invention, consist of a so-calledtangential ventilator ie. a fan picking up and discharging the airtangentially, said ventilator being arranged with its axis parallel withthe longitudinal direction of the housing. Hereby there is obtained aparticularly practical construction where it is possible to concentrateall the electrical components in one single caslng.

In the accompanying drawings an embodiment of an air humidifieraccording to the invention is illustrated,

FIG. l showing a front view of the air humidifier with a portion of thefront side removed, and

FIG. 2 showing a vertical section of the air humidifier.

The shown air humidifier has ahousing with a front wall 1 and a rearwall 2. The housing is terminated below by a water container 3 whosewalls are arranged in the same plane as the walls 1 and 2, saidcontainer 3 being arranged forwardly pivotable about an axis 4. The airhumidifier is supported by a base 5. The housing is terminated above bya top wall 6. In the upper region of the housing there is arranged atangential fan 7 driven by a gear motor 8, said fan being connected withan outlet channel 9 that opens into an aperture in the upper portion ofthe wall 2.

Below the fan 7 there is arranged a roller 10 that may be driven by thegear motor 8 over a transmission mechanism, said roller possibly beingdriven by a separate motor. On the roller 10 there is placed an endlessporous band 11, e.g. consisting of foam plastic, and below said roller10 a roller 12 is suspended in the band 11. A large aperture is arrangedin the wall 2 opposite the rear portion of the endless band. Between theroller 10 and the fan 7 there is arranged a partition 17 to ensure thatthe air is forced through the band 11.

When operating the air humidifier the tangential fan 7 is caused torotate in the direction indicated by the arrow 13, and the roller 10 iscaused to rotate in such a direction that the endless band moves in themanner indicated by the arrows 14 and 15. The band 11 will thereforepick up water from the container 3, and the tangential fan will cause anair stream flowing in the directions indicated by arrows 16. The airthus passing through the vertical stretches of the endless band 11 willthereby be moistened and be blown out through the channel 9.

The air humidifier is flat and is therefore well-suited for arrangementalongside a radiator. Hereby it is achieved that the air sucked inthrough the rear wall 2 is somewhat heated so that it can pick uprelatively large amounts of water, and furthermore it is obtained thatthe air expelled through the channel 9 will be mixed with the ascendingwarm air from the radiator.

The water container 3 can be swung forward so that it is easy toascertain whether it contains a sufficient amount of water and it istherefore easy to fill it with Water or exchange the water or clean thecontainer. Container 3 has two ring segments 18 which are pivotallymounted on the housing journals 4. Since the roller 12 is not mountedbut is suspended by its own Weight in the band 11 the water containercan be rotated frontwardly by simply pulling on the water container flap19 and since the ring segments 18 do not surround the journals 4 thiscontainer can be completely detached from the housing 1.

The shown and described embodiment is only to be considered by way ofexample as several variations are conceivable within the scope of theinvention. The air humidifier and the radiator may thus constitute aunit with Y the radiator, the fan," the band and the Water containerarranged in a single housing. In this manner the entire unit may be mademore compact than the device consisting lof a separate radiator and aseparate air humidifier.

I claim:

1. An air humidifier comprising a flat rectangular stationary housinghaving inlet and outlet apertures arranged in Ia vertical wall thereof,the lower portion of said housing comprising a vwater container arrangedpivotably about 4and removable from an axis at the bottom of saidhousing, a ventilator arranged inside said housing, a roller withhorizontal axis arranged with its axis parallel to said vertical wall, amotor directly connected with the axle of said ventilator and connectedwith the axle of the roller through a reduction mechanism, an endlessband of porous material suspended on said roller, a second rollersuspended in said band directly beneath said first roller in thelowermost region of the housing and at least partly submerged in thewater of the water container, said band having two vertical stretchesextending between the two rollers and across the lowermost of said twoapertures. 2. An air humidifier comprising a housing having asubstantially vertically extending back wall, said wall having thereinan inlet aperture and an outlet aperture, said outlet aperture beingsubstantially vertically above said inlet aperture, having thereinsuspended a porous band, a water container, said container arrangedpivotably about and removable from an axis at the bottom of saidhousing, means for transferring water from said container to said bandand means for producing a stream of air which enters said housing atsaid intake aperture, passes past said porous band, and exits saidoutlet aperture.

y 3. Aupair humidifieras defined in claim 2, wherein said air streamproducing means is a tangential fan arranged with its axis parallel totherllongitudinal direction of the housing.

4. An air humidifier comprising a housing having i11- let and outletapertures, the lower portion of said housing comprisinga-water containerarranged pivotallyaboilt and'removable from an axis at the bottom ofsaid housing, a roller with horizontal axis, an endless band of porousmaterial suspended on said roller, a'second roller `suspended in saidband in the lowermost region of the housing and at least partlysubmerged in the Water of the water container.

References Cited Steele 237f`-78 TIM R. MILES, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl.X.R.

